Page 129 of The Boss Problem

I debated his question and finally nodded.

“That does it,” he said, settling back down and holding his arms out for me to join him. “Set your phone aside and go back home tomorrow. Henry isn’t hurt, is he?”

I shook my head. “Not hurt. He just doesn’t want to be alone.”

“After he stays alone for one night, he’ll realize it isn’t as scary as he thinks it is. He’ll be fine.”

57

CHLOE

The next morning, after my first full night out, I made my way home in Sean’s car, nervous but excited. In my hand, I held the extra key fob to Sean’s penthouse. He’d insisted I have them.

Well, not Sean’s penthouse, but ours, I corrected immediately.

I’d enjoyed my night with Sean, and I was thrilled at the idea of moving in with him.

Henry had texted and called me a few times throughout the night before giving up. I’d set my phone on silent, and I noticed his missed calls on my ride back home.

I’d need to check with Henry, of course, but going by how the two were getting along, I didn’t foresee many problems.

I saw that I could have a normal life, and I could see beyond to weeks and months ahead. And I liked what I saw. Days and evenings filled with Sean, Lucas, and Henry. Not having to pick only one of them, but all of them. I wanted Henry to meet Lucas and to be a part of my weekend mornings with Sean.

When the car dropped me off at home, I all but bounded up the sidewalk to the apartment door, opening it with a flourish.

I was this close to bursting into song when the open door revealed a pale and sleepy-eyed Henry in the hallway.

The happy words on the tip of my lips died when I saw a long and bloody scar on his forehead.

Without thinking, I rushed up to him, dropping my handbag and kneeling down next to him in an instant. “What happened to you?” I asked hoarsely.

“Where were you?” he responded.

Ignoring his question, I looked around the living room.

A heart-shattering mess of broken glass shards took up most of the living room floor. My heart almost stopped at the sight. Had he broken most of the glasses we had?

I turned back to Henry in shock.

“Dad showed up last night,” Henry said, looking at me with anger.

I felt faint. “Last night?” I echoed, wondering how I’d missed him. I had left home around six p.m. “When?” I asked.

“At eight p.m. The second time I’d called you last night, and you didn’t answer,” Henry said, putting his head in his hands and looking distraught. He lifted his head, and there was a new fire in his eyes. “How dare you reach out to him and ask him to show up for my graduation ceremony?”

Oh shit.

“He showed up here, telling me he was planning to be there after all, and I told him to go to hell. I don’t want that man anywhere near us,” Henry spat. “I hate him for the way he treated us, and how could you find it in your heart to go back to him, Chloe?”

I almost broke down sobbing. Henry was right. The man had given up his claim on us a long time ago, and only Henry had the clarity to see that. I had been an emotional fool, hoping for a happy-family moment on his graduation night.

The only family we had was each other.

“Did the sight of Dad affect you this much?” I asked, trembling as I looked at the shards of broken glass.

The look Henry gave me was eerie. “No,” he said. “But when he told me something you’d been keeping from me, that was when I lost it.”

Our gazes locked, and I knew instantly what Henry was talking about.

---